“Wouldn’t do me any good, would it? No—I want to talk to you about our mission. After what Sikona told us, I can’t work out how we can get into the city without being seen.”
Hickory had been thinking along the same lines. She unfolded the map Sikona had drawn up earlier and smoothed it out on the table. According to Sikona, the city was like a gigantic hive, built on three levels above ground with interconnecting corridors and tunnels to hundreds of zones, ranging from factories to housing to administration. Utilities such as power, water, and sewage were located below ground. The central citadel where Kabutai lived dominated everything. Presumably, this was where she might find the Sword if it was actually on the planet. They still had no hard evidence the capsule in actuality contained the Sword, but it made sense the Warlord would keep it nearby. Outside the palace precinct and separated from it by a high wall, was the troop barracks, housing fifty thousand Bikashi soldiers and their families.
Jess traced the route to the city with her finger. “We’ll be coming in from this direction, cross-country through the farming area. Somewhere out here are the ‘untouchables.’ According to Sikona, there are dozens of shanty towns scattered around the area, although he’s only been in one. If we can avoid them and get through the city gates…” She threw her hands up in disgust. “Don’t ask me how we do that—then our plan is to hide in the Lakedweller quarters, wherever they are, until we discover a way into the palace.” She slapped the map with her hand. “Hick, this is not going to work. There are so many holes, it smells like Swiss cheese.”
“What are we supposed to do, Jess? Not go? The map is better than nothing at all.”
“I know, but we’re going into a hostile environment blind.”
They glanced up at a sharp rap on the door.
“Private argument or can anyone join in?” asked Gareth, grinning around the doorway.
“Come in. We’re just going over the map Sikona made for us,” said Hickory.
“Pretty skimpy, eh? I agree with Jess. We’re going to need a much better plan to get us close enough to grab the Sword then get out of there.”
Hickory pressed her lips together then nodded. “The admiral said he’d do a surface scan, but it’s not going to improve things much since he can’t risk us taking the Jabberwocky within reach of the Bikashi sensors.”
“Did I miss something? How do we get to the planet?” asked Gareth.
“The Jabberwocky carries one long-range multi-element transporter with stealth capability, the Wellington. If we take the MET into geosynchronous orbit above the northern polar region, we can hide in the asteroid belt and work out our best approach. We should be able to take some snapshots of the route at least. According to Sikona, it’s too congested there for Bikashi sensors to detect us.”
Gareth raised his eyebrows. “Seems a bit slack of the Bikashi to leave a hole like that for us to slip through.”
Jess studied her nails. “Oh, they know there’s a hole there, all right. It’s just they’re not worried about it.”
Gareth waited, then his nostrils flared. “Are you going to tell me, or do I have to guess?”
Hickory intervened before Gareth could launch a full-scale verbal attack. “The asteroids are thick, and they move fast. If we can find a way through, the space beyond is laced with mines.”
“Well, that’s good. Here we are trying to get to a place we really don’t want to go to, and we have to navigate our way through an asteroid belt and a minefield that might blow us to smithereens before we get to the place we don’t want to be anyway.”
“Very funny, Gareth.” Hickory’s eyes flared. “But this isn’t a matter of wanting anything. We need to get down to Auriga, and we need to find out if the Sword is still in one piece, and we need to bring it back to Earth. Otherwise, a lot of people are going to die, okay? So, buckle up the two of you and get on the same team. If not, you can head back to your cozy life on Earth.”
Jess darted a glance at Gareth then leaned forward, one arm outstretched. “Hickory, are you okay?”
Gareth sat up stiffly. “Sorry, Captain. Just blowing off a little steam.”
Hickory pushed her chair back and stood, hands on her hips, glaring down at him. Hard enough keeping myself motivated, never mind these two. “You do realize if the Bikashi activate the full power of the sword, they will become an unstoppable force? Or perhaps you think the Warlord will suddenly develop a desire for peace?
Gareth turned his eyes away, unable to hold her gaze. “All right, all right, what do you want me to do? I’m going nuts around here.”
“I want you and Sikona to put your heads together and come up with a scheme to get us to the planet’s surface in one piece, and then I want you to map out the route to the city, one that preferably avoids outlying settlements. I hope that’s not too much to ask?”
Gareth knitted his eyebrows together. “Should be okay.” He started for the door, muttering to himself. “Bloody Bikashi. Can’t trust them. It’s up to me. So many variables though—number, type of explosive, dispersion ratios, capacity, detonation types—heck, there must be a thousand things to think about.”
#
The Jabberwocky stood silent at three astronomical units from Auriga monitoring the progress of the Wellington toward the asteroid belt.
With a flash of light, it accelerated out of visual range. Jess sighed. “That’s the last friendly sight we’ll see for a while. The Admiral doesn’t want to be seen in the area if we detonate a mine.”
It was a solemn moment. The point of no return, at least until they’d completed their mission. The three Alien Corps operatives and their Bikashi guide turned their gaze to the forward viewscreen. Auriga was limned in fire, dark against its sun. A thin plane, like the rings of Saturn, dissected the planet, slanted at an acute angle to their virtual horizon.
“There’s our best chance,” said Gareth. “With luck, Jess can pilot us safely through the debris. Sikona reckons there are no mines amongst the asteroids because of the danger of them being set off by a rock.”
The Bikashi nodded. “The high command decreed the asteroids themselves would be a sufficient first line of defense.”
Jess had managed to hold her tongue for all of two seconds. Now, she swooped on Gareth. “Luck, is it? You don’t figure maybe a modicum of skill might come in handy? Those asteroids travel at fantastic speeds and in all directions within the plane of the rings, and they regularly crash into each other. We’ll need more than luck to find our way through that lot, boyo.”
Gareth grinned in delight. Once again, he’d managed to stir up Jess. He saw Hickory’s dark look, and his smile disappeared instantly. “Captain, I’ve launched the final comms beacon and received a successful pingback from the flagship. Everything is working the way it should.”
“So, we’re ready to go?” Hickory asked.
Gareth nodded. “We don’t know what’s on the other side of the asteroid belt. There’s the minefield, of course, but there could be another nasty surprise waiting like gunships, or a fancy defense net.” He turned to the Bikashi. “Anything you can tell us, Sikona?”
The Bikashi opened his hands. “Only the military know what awaits us. On some nights, bright lights would appear in the sky, and people wondered what caused them. They were a mystery and gave rise to numerous theories, but the government news agency never reported them in their broadcasts.”
The Admiral thinks this should be straightforward. Get in and grab the Sword of Connat, let Sikona do his dirty work, then call him to get out. I hope he’s right. And what’s the point, anyway? It’s not as if the Bikashi have any chance of figuring out how to make the Segniori technology work—and neither has Earth. She couldn’t help herself. The thought sprang to her mind unbidden. But it could be a life capsule. He might have survived. “Strap in everyone. It’s going to be a rough ride.”
#
Jess breathed a sigh of relief. She’d maneuvered the MET halfway through the asteroid belt to a location presently devoid
of rock. There was still twenty-five miles of dangerous space to negotiate. All around them, satellites the size of pebbles ricocheted off others as big as mountains like hailstones bouncing off a footpath.
Jess’s fingers flashed over the console. The transporter swung to the right then downward in a corkscrew dive, narrowly missing a massive lump of rock spiraling toward them. A smaller meteorite, following in its wake, clipped one of the vessel’s stabilizers, sending the craft into a spin. Jess regained control and steered the MET into a relatively clear pocket. A red light blinked on the console. “Bad news, guys. The auto defense system’s gone down. Switching to manual targeting, now.”
Gareth and Hickory sprinted to where a three-dimensional map of nearby space materialized in the well of the ship. They locked themselves into two hover chairs, flicked their controls to SIM mode, and took up position on opposite sides of the globe. The chairs moved instantly at their mental command, enabling them to scan for approaching danger. From there, they could assess the relative threats and relay the information to Jess via their SIMS. Jess would then fire a rocket at the coordinates, hopefully destroying the approaching rock. They’d practiced for such an emergency in low-density space, but with thousands of potential hazards zooming toward them on so many different trajectories, it would need their absolute concentration and collaboration to get through. Hickory signaled Jess. Rear sensors are inactive. Almost a quarter of the map is mere static. We’re blind to anything approaching the ship from behind.
Jess glanced at Sikona. His eyes were trained on the rear-looking viewscreen. Sikona’s got that covered. Let’s get out of here, folks.
Sikona’s reptilian eyes flickered, ignoring the asteroids flashing across his screen at blinding speed. He maintained focus purely on detecting anything moving toward them. “Dust cloud on approach at vector 236.5, altitude minus 295 degrees,” he murmured, transmitting via the ship’s comms to the three Corps operatives. “Relative speed is less than two kilometers per second. Average particle size 0.02 microns.”
“The shields will take care of them,” said Jess.
The pinging of dust particles colliding with the ship’s hull resonated on the bridge. “We’re collecting a lot of rubbish,” said Jess. “Deploying anti-static charge.” The polarity of the electrons on the ship’s outer skin was synchronized, creating a magnetic field to propel the dust away from the hull. “Randomizing magnetic moments,” she said a few seconds later, returning the magnetic field to normal.
Hickory swiveled her chair to a new heading. Red crosshairs zeroed in on a meteorite heading towards them. “Jess! Massive rock, vector 94.8, altitude 0.5 degrees. Impact 3.2 seconds.”
“Got it,” said Jess. The meteorite rapidly filled her windscreen and she adjusted the magnification to 1.0, which made it marginally less frightening. While she applied reverse thrusters, she analyzed the relative position of the MET compared to the rock, querying the flight computer on its detailed shape and rotation to help predict the most probable course she should take to avoid a collision.
Gareth’s eyes widened. “What are you waiting for, mother? Get us away from here,” he shouted.
Jess smiled grimly and made a micro adjustment to her course.
The rock tumbled into a new configuration displaying a convex surface, and she punched the accelerator. Instantly, the ship sped through the coordinates that two seconds previously had presented a solid rock face. The forward momentum took them out of the asteroid belt. Jess throttled down and placed the drive into auto.
Gareth struggled out of his chair and bent over with his hands on his knees. “How lucky was that? I think I’m going to puke.”
“Lucky? It’s lucky you had someone of my skill flying this machine—that’s the lucky part, boyo.” Jess’s face lit with satisfaction.
Hickory shook her head. Here we go again. Can’t these two see the peril we’re in? She was about to intervene when Sikona’s voice echoed through her SIM.
“Don’t get too comfortable, humans. We’re through the asteroid belt, but the real test is about to begin. We’re bang in the middle of the minefield.”
“Poor choice of words,” murmured Gareth, slipping back into his seat.
Hickory’s eyes darted over the holosphere. Red points of light, each one signaling the position of an explosive mine, appeared in all directions. “How are we going to get through this?” she asked Gareth.
“Er, well. This is where the plan becomes brilliant,” he said. “We might be able to blast a path through, but that would signal the Bikashi we’re coming. So, we need to navigate to the planet’s surface without setting the mines off, eh?”
Hickory nodded quickly. “So far, so good.”
“According to Sikona, these mines are designed to respond to the signature of a spaceship’s engines and will home in on us pretty quick once we get close enough.”
“We haven’t got all day, Gareth,” said Jess, still fuming over Gareth’s earlier remarks.
Gareth smiled and continued unfazed. “Since the early twentieth century, the strategy for dealing with minefields has essentially remained the same: decoys.” He pulled a paper sketch from his top pocket and smoothed it over the table. “Apologies for the use of ancient materials, but it felt appropriate. Assume this is the shuttle, and here are the mines.” He dabbed his finger at the map. “Now, if this were 1944, the successful minesweeper would deploy decoys to attract the mines out of the way of the convoy. The problem was, the mines would often blow up the decoys. As this is 2184 and we don’t want the mines to detonate, we’ve modified the technique a little. We’ve dismantled the payload from some of our missiles and fitted them with soft noses. Our plan is to shut down propulsion before the missiles get within range of a mine’s sensors, coast up, and nudge them out of our way.” Gareth looked up, a pleased expression on his face.
“That’s it? That’s your brilliant plan?” said Jess. “God save us from buffoons.”
Hickory raised her eyes heavenward. “Sikona, do you concur this is our best chance?”
“I know it sounds risky, but we’ve no choice if we want to reach the ground undetected.”
“Let’s get on with it,” said Hickory.
CHAPTER 6
Crash Landing
Gareth lashed out at the hatch door, desperate to get out but it wouldn’t budge.
Sikona grabbed him by the arm. “Let me try.” He took aim with his huge Bikashi boot. At the second attempt, the door flew open and moonlight flooded into the smoke-filled cabin. Hickory, Jess, and Gareth tumbled out, followed by Sikona.
Gareth’s strategy had worked well for a time. They’d almost escaped the minefield when the gravitational pull of the MET attracted more than the two mines they were able to deal with at the one time. The explosive force of the third mine had swept over the ship, shorting its gyro system and fusing the ailerons, then sent the vehicle into a downward spiral. They’d screamed toward the surface, bounced twice, then nose-dived into a snow drift. The MET came to a juddering stop, leaving a scorch mark a mile long.
It was sheer luck, thought Hickory. Jess had reduced airspeed by manually engaging reverse on the one remaining functional thruster. If they’d crashed into the nearby poisonous sea—all that remained of the planet’s once magnificent oceans—they wouldn’t have survived. Still, they were a long way off their intended landing place. The plan had been to bring the MET down to sea level then navigate overland and undersea to the edge of the farmlands east of Kaffur. Now they were stranded, God knew how far from their goal.
She rubbed the stinging smoke from her eyes and took stock. The wrecked transporter lay silhouetted against the silver light of the polar horizon. One wing had gone, leaving a ragged scar the length of the fuselage. White smoke billowed from the empty door, and orange tongues of flame flickered inside. No chance of repairing it.
Thick pack-ice and snow surrounded them. To the north and west, tall mountain ranges stretched to the stars. To the east, there appeared n
othing but ice as far as her eye could see, but in the distance south of them, Hickory could make out a thin blue line, marking the edge of the permanent ice cap and the start of the sea. The night air nipped at her face. She used her SIM to check the radiation level in the immediate surroundings. Higher than Earth normal, but pretty much what I expected. The medication they’d taken would compensate. “Bring over your backpacks. We need to talk.” When they’d gathered around, she said, “The situation is this: we’re stranded, our transport is dead, and all we have is what we carry on our backs. We need to reconsider our strategy. Either we signal the Admiral to come and pick us up, and perhaps we get another chance at the mission…” She paused, looking them in the eyes, searching for the doubt she felt. They looked at her expectantly. “Or, we trek out of here and find a way to the mainland. Sikona, what can you tell us? Is it feasible?”
Sikona took a square pyramid crystal from his pocket and left it to float in the air in front of him. A holographic menu appeared on the square end, and his fingers flew swiftly over the surface. A map of the area projected from the crystal, shimmering in the cold air. “I didn’t save much from the shuttle, but I believe this will be invaluable if you decide to continue. Before we left the Prince of Wales, I posted information from the ship’s computers onto this data prism. It contains much on Auriga’s geography, and I’ve added other things—weather patterns, tidal information—anything I thought might prove useful.”
“Now that’s good thinking,” said Gareth, nodding his head.
“The journey will be difficult and fraught with danger, but I believe we can find a way.”
Hickory checked with Gareth and Jess. They were on board. “Okay, let’s do it. First thing is to conduct an inventory.” She upended her rucksack and repacked it one item at a time. “One thermal blanket, first aid kit, four-week space-ration pack, camp stove, water bottle, rope, boots, two pairs of socks, scarf, hat, and snow jacket. Oh, and one Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife.” She paused. “Anyone else bring along anything other than the standard pack?”
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